Kicking Common Sense Down the Road- By: Larry Walker, Jr. -When one of today’s most brilliant liberal economists recently mentioned the European fiscal crisis, he said, “Spain is suffering the hangover from a huge housing bubble, which caused both an economic boom and a period of inflation that left Spanish industry uncompetitive with the rest of Europe. When the bubble burst, Spain was left with the difficult problem of regaining competitiveness, a painful process that will take years.”Yet, when far less knowledgeable left-wingers, including the President, speak of America’s economic woes, they routinely regurgitate the meaningless thread, “We are suffering...

As the UN digs in its ever-sharper, global-grasping claws, there are less and less desirable places to relocate. The New World Order permeates and invades all. Agenda 21? This is how it is done in Australia. Been going on for years... We know a family who live in Sydney’s Parramatta. The oldest girl, now in her 80’s, lives in the family home which was built in the early 1900’s. She was invited to a meeting with Parramatta Council and she and others were told that the Council “could not tolerate” for much longer that there was only one or two...

Of the twenty new or higher taxes in Obamacare, below are the five worst that will be foisted upon Americans for the first time on January 1, 2013: The Obamacare Medical Device Tax – a $20 billion tax increase: Medical device manufacturers employ 409,000 people in 12,000 plants across the country. Obamacare imposes a new 2.3 percent excise tax on gross sales – even if the company does not earn a profit in a given year. In addition to killing small business jobs and impacting research and development budgets, this will increase the cost of your health care – making...

Due to high taxes, burdensome regulations, lack of public sector reforms, and a lackluster job climate, more people have left California than come to the state since 2005, according to a comprehensive study by the Manhattan Institute released on Tuesday, suggesting California is no longer “perceived by most Americans as the land where dreams come true.” In the report, titled “The Great California Exodus: A Closer Look," Tom Gray and Robert Scardamalia found Californians have fled to states like Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, and Georgia because those states have a better economic climate with less taxes and...

Fox News has come out with a poll showing overwhelming agreement that all Americans should pay income taxes. Seventy-nine percent say everyone should pay something, according to a Fox News poll released Thursday. That includes 85 percent of Republicans, 83 percent of independents and 71 percent of Democrats.According to the IRS, last year approximately 41 percent of tax filers did not pay federal income tax. The Tax Policy Center estimates that will increase to 46 percent this year. Letâ€™s say there are 150 million in the civilian labor force. I wonÂ’tâ€™ adjust for joint filers and small businesses. I think...

When politicians claim that they will save money by “in-sourcing” federal functions from contractors, or will respond to some new need by expanding the federal workforce, that has a cost to taxpayers. How much is that cost? In order to determine the cost of hiring a new federal bureaucrat, ATR has calculated the “all-in” cost of hiring a new federal employee. We include salary as well as benefits, pension contributions, training and other expenses, and payroll taxes. We assume a 40-year federal career. The numbers presented are both nominal and inflation-adjusted. Here are the results for a low-cost, medium-cost, and...

A 1 percent tax on billionaires around the world. A tax on all currency trading in the U.S. dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound sterling. Another “tiny” tax on all financial transactions, including stock and bond trading, and trading in financial derivatives. New taxes on carbon emissions and on airline tickets. A royalty on all undersea mineral resources extracted more than 100 miles offshore of any nation’s territory. The United Nations is at it again: finding new and “innovative” ways to create global taxes that would transfer hundreds of billions, and even trillions, of dollars from...

Just what we've all been waiting for â€” now I can send intellectually cheap, platitudinous, pre-packaged falsehoods from Obama's messaging team to my friends and family, in a simple e-card! Life = made.I have to hand it to them: Their graphics people are kinda excellent. But, the messaging? Not so much, my friends. Fresh from the Obama campaign:Wow ... pretty brazen of them to try to mobilize young people to save a program that said young people are currently paying into hand-over-fist, that will not be around for them, because it is fundamentally and undeniably insolvent. President Obama has made...

One study said Mitt Romney's tax-reform numbers don't add up. Another says they do..... .....The Tax Policy Center calculated that even if all tax breaks they assumed to be available under Romney's criteria were wiped out for high-income earners, it wouldn't be enough to keep Romney's plan revenue neutral. Middle- or lower-income households would need to kick an extra $86 billion a year to meet the target. How? Deductions and other tax breaks would have to be reduced by an amount outweighing their 20-percent tax-rate cut. .....Separately this week, Romney-camp economist Kevin Hassett called the Tax Policy Center report "the...

I can't take it anymore! It's time to set the record straight: I am, officially and categorically, in the infamous 47% tax bracket. You know, the one everybody assumes are moochers, users and takers. The main factor that has not been incorporated into the argument is choice. As you cannot choose your tax bracket, I did not and cannot choose mine. What I pay doesn't and shouldn't brand my integrity. Both parties have liberally slathered my character as a usable calculation to their cause. Do the Democrats think that by dangling 'freebie carrots' they have my vote? Why do the...

Consumer spending rose in August, thanks to higher gas prices, while incomes barely budged, government data showed Friday. The Commerce Department said consumer spending rose 0.5 percent in August from July, the biggest jump since February. The increase was led by a 1.7 percent surge in purchases of nondurable goods, reflecting the sharp 28.2 cents per gallon rise in gas prices during the month. Spending on durable goods rose 0.3 percent, helped by gains in auto sales. Spending on services rose just 0.2 percent. Income rose just 0.1 percent in August, reflecting the weak job market. Taking into account inflation,...

A 1 percent tax on billionaires around the world. A tax on all currency trading in the U.S. dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound sterling. Another “tiny” tax on all financial transactions, including stock and bond trading, and trading in financial derivatives. New taxes on carbon emissions and on airline tickets. A royalty on all undersea mineral resources extracted more than 100 miles offshore of any nation’s territory. The United Nations is at it again: finding new and “innovative” ways to create global taxes that would transfer hundreds of billions, and even trillions, of dollars from...

President Francois Hollande's Socialist government unveiled sharp tax hikes on business and the rich on Friday in a 2013 budget aimed at showing France has the fiscal rigor to remain at the core of the euro zone. The package will recoup 30 billion euros ($39 billion) for the public purse with a goal of narrowing the deficit to 3.0 percent of national output next year from 4.5 percent this year - France's toughest single belt-tightening in 30 years. But with record unemployment and a barrage of data pointing to economic stagnation, there are fears the deficit target will slip as...

Mitt Romney has muddied his message on the GOP's signature issue of taxes at a time of growing frustration in the party about the direction of his campaign. Now struggling in the polls, the Republican nominee said this week that President Obama had not raised taxes and downplayed the tax relief in his own proposal... "It's not a particularly compelling message to tell people you're not going to see much of a tax cut in the way most people think of tax cuts," said Jim Pethokoukis of the American Enterprise Institute... Larry Kudlow, a prominent supply-side commentatot said he was...

It's no secret that the foreign policy of the United States tends to reflect the world views of the occupant of the White House. "One of the issues that I have been preaching about around the world is collecting taxes in an equitable manner - especially from the elites in every country," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in her speech at the Clinton Global Initiative Monday. What Clinton meant by "contribute to growth" was revealing. She listed contributing to building schools and hospitals rather than domestic business investment, which is the conventional meaning of contributing to growth.

A large majority of likely voters believes all Americans should pay some federal income tax -- even if it is as little as one percent of what they make. Seventy-nine percent say everyone should pay something, according to a Fox News poll released Thursday. That includes 85 percent of Republicans, 83 percent of independents and 71 percent of Democrats. According to the IRS, last year approximately 41 percent of tax filers did not pay federal income tax. The Tax Policy Center estimates that will increase to 46 percent this year. Most voters (73 percent) are at least somewhat familiar with...

A large majority of likely voters believes all Americans should pay some federal income tax -- even if it is as little as one percent of what they make. Seventy-nine percent say everyone should pay something, according to a Fox News poll released Thursday. That includes 85 percent of Republicans, 83 percent of independents and 71 percent of Democrats. According to the IRS, last year approximately 41 percent of tax filers did not pay federal income tax. The Tax Policy Center estimates that will increase to 46 percent this year. Most voters (73 percent) are at least somewhat...

The Tax Policy Center (TPC) released a report in March of 2012 detailing the effects of the Romney tax reform plan on taxpayers. The conclusion reached by the Tax Policy Center stated that the Romney tax reform plan would cut taxes for high-income taxpayers and raise them for middle and lower-income earners. Since the report was released, President Obama and his team have ran with it and used it to undermine the credibility of Romney’s plan. Senior Analyst in Tax Policy at the Heritage Foundation, Curtis Dubay, released his rebuttal of the TPC report yesterday which revealed many of the...

President Obama's campaign, with a good dose of help from the media, is pushing a claim that millionaire Mitt Romney is taxed at a "lower rate" than someone making $50,000 a year. IRS data, though, shows that Romney's effective income tax rate -- that's what he pays as a percentage of his income once deductions and other benefits are factored in -- is actually far higher than what most Americans pay. Romney's rate in 2010 -- which was also about 14 percent -- was higher than what 97 percent of Americans pay.

If "journalism malpractice" were a crime, Nancy Grace would not be able to keep track of all the trials. ABC news reporter Jonathan Karl recently said: "Mitt Romney ... made $13.7 million last year and paid nearly $2 million in taxes. His effective tax rate -- 14.1 percent. That's a lower rate than an auto mechanic who made $75,000 in pay." Not again. Back in January, anchor Diane Sawyer teased "Mitt's millions" on ABC's "World News": "What Mitt Romney's taxes really show about wealth, taxes and fairness." Then correspondent David Muir informed viewers: "(Romney's) tax rate? In 2010, about 13.9...

A survey of U.S. chief executives shows a sharp drop in the number of large companies that plan to add jobs or hire more workers. The Business Roundtable said Wednesday that only 29 percent of its member CEOs plan to increase hiring over the next six months. That's down from 36 percent in June, when the group last released its quarterly survey. It's also much lower than the 52 percent of CEOs in early 2011 who said they planned to boost hiring, the highest percentage since the survey began in 2002....

Minnesota state and local taxes were 13th highest in the nation per capita in 2010, while the state ranked 15th highest in spending per person. Those were among the findings in a new Minnesota Taxpayers Association annual report on state and local taxes and spending that was released Wednesday, Sept. 26. It was based on recently released U.S. Census Bureau data for 2010. “The findings suggest that Minnesota’s moderate increases in tax collections were largely similar to the experiences of other states,” the report said. Minnesota’s state and local taxes per $1,000 of income increased 2.5 percent from 2009 to...

How can a Republican ignore the fact that there are many more federal taxes than just the federal income tax? Republicans have long reminded people that businesses don't pay taxes, their customers do. Normally, I would expect Democrats to try to con lower income groups into believing that the fact they don't pay the federal income tax means they are not being forced to pay for extravagant federal programs. Workers making the minimum wage pay the Social Security and Medicare taxes based on their income. Winos pay federal liquor taxes on their cheap booze. The whiskey tax was one of...

Throughout Maryland, county governments have begun to push back against the reckless fiscal policies of Governor Martin O’Malley. During Maryland’s first special session, this past summer, Marylanders saw their taxes once again increased and witnessed the state government passing the buck on teacher pension liabilities to the county governments. In addition, Gov. O’Malley has put into action a whole slew of new regulations on vehicles, rainwater run-off, and septic systems. With continuously diminishing authority over local government specific issues and even higher taxes, county officials are hoping to posture themselves in order to curb not only the authority of the...

... Our analysis finds that in the post-WWII era, there is a very strong connection between nonpayers and federal government transfer payments. Transfer payments are programs that give direct assistance to people such as unemployment insurance, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamps. In fact, our model suggests that a 1 percentage point increase in the share of tax filers who are nonpayers (from 40 percent to 41 percent, for example) is associated with a $10.6 billion per year increase in transfer payments. Since the number of nonpayers has increased by 20 percentage points over the last two decades, our...

Paul Ryan stood by helplessly, and in apparent pain, as Mitt Romney strayed from campaign talking points on President Obama's tax record during a joint "reset" rally today in Ohio. In the midst of remarks ridiculing the president's handling of the economy, Romney said: "I admit this, he has one thing he did not do in his first four years - he's said he's going to do in the next four years, which is to raise taxes." During the primaries, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul offered a very different view of the presidents record, when she told the L.A. Times: "President...

U.S. carbon tax could halve deficit in 10 years: report Reuters – 2 hrs 10 mins ago WAHSINGTON, Sept 26 (Reuters Point Carbon) - Imposing a $20 per metric ton carbon tax in the U.S. could reduce the country's budget deficit by 50 percent over the next 10 years, a report by the Congressional Research Service said on Tuesday. Such a tax would generate approximately $88 billion in 2012, rising to $144 billion by 2020, the report said, slashing U.S. debt by between 12 and 50 percent within a decade, depending on how high the deficit climbs The U.S. budget...

One of the most pernicious myths in the current political debate is that the rich don’t pay much tax. This is nonsense, as even a cursory analysis of the official statistics reveals. The top 1pc, who earn Ł156,000 or above, will pay a whopping 24.2pc of all income tax this year, a much higher contribution than their 10.8pc share of all income. The top 10pc of earners – those on at least Ł50,500 – will pay 55.3pc of all income tax, also far more than their income share. The most astonishing figure of all is that for the very wealthy:...

"Colorado man's challenge to IRS says wages don't count"The government calls those who argue the income tax has no legal foundation “tax protesters” and labels their arguments “frivolous.” And usually judges toss their arguments out of court, assess them court costs on top of taxes, interest and penalties, and sometimes even threaten them if they file further cases. But now the U.S. Supreme Court – the nine judges who sit on the bench in Washington by virtue of their selection by presidents and confirmation by the U.S. Senate – has docketed exactly that type of case. The results? Who knows,...

Romney, In Shift, Says Obama Has Not Raised Taxes By Seema Mehta September 25 VANDALIA, Ohio — Mitt Romney said Tuesday that President Obama did not raise taxes during his first term, contradicting a constant attack he has leveled on Obama — that his healthcare plan was a tax increase. “I admit this, he has one thing he did not do in his first four years — he’s said he’s going to do in the next four years — which is to raise taxes. And is there anyone who thinks raising taxes will help grow the economy? No!” Romney told...

Now that the Supreme Court has given its narrow blessing to the Affordable Care Act, the big question is whether it will deliver the benefits that its proponents promise. Unfortunately, as it is now constructed, the plan will backfire causing fewer healthy people to buy insurance, raise premiums for those who do, destroy employment opportunities, cripple the health insurance industry, and weaken the economy. In order to guarantee insurance to all, regardless of age, health or pre-existing conditions, the framers of the plan concede that it is essential that the young and healthy (who are less likely to be heavy...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used her Monday evening keynote speech at a Clinton Global Initiative event to push for a new global initiative: a tax on the world’s rich. “One of the issues that I have been preaching about around the world is collecting taxes in an equitable manner, especially from the elites in every country,” Clinton said at the annual meeting of her husband’s global public policy organization. “It is a fact that around the world the elites of every country are making money,” Clinton continued. “There are rich people everywhere. And yet they do not contribute to...

The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) recently surveyed 236 business economists on fiscal policy issues, including the looming Taxmageddon and Obamacare. The results of the survey reflect a clear divide on taxes between economists and Democrats in Congress. According to the survey, a majority of respondents support the extension of “payroll tax cuts, current marginal income tax rates, and current tax rates for dividends and capital gains for most or all taxpayers through 2013.” Furthermore, between 35 and 45 percent favor the permanent extension of income, dividends, and capital gains at their current rate. On the issue of tax...

Most mainstream media outlets aide in the proliferation of myths about our tax system and our economy. Here are 5 myths about the US tax system that you probably thought were true. 1. Once A Millionaire, Always A Millionaire As you can see by the graph below, this shows how many consecutive years millionaires file their taxes as millionaires. Half of the people who become millionaires are only at that status for one year.â€‹ 2. Tax Credits Only Help The Rich This graph shows the effective tax rates since 1980. As you can see, because of tax credits and deductions,...

Everyone's getting their knickers in a twist about the 47 percent that Mitt Romney figures are going to vote for Barack Obama, no matter what. But do you know why they will vote for Barack? Wyatt Emmerich did the math back in 2010 for The Clevelend Current in Mississippi. It's been written up at ZeroHedge and by Kathy Shaidle. The message is simple. Earn $3,600 per year as head of a family of three, and your net earnings (after taxes and government benefits) will amount to $31,630. But if you earn $60,000 a year, your net earnings will be $34,366....

Obama’s pre-election story is that taxing the rich is the key to funding the government and reducing the debt. Even his greatly expanded government will be financed by the rich paying their fair share. This story is for people who do not understand anything at all about current government spending and the staggering size of our debt. Obama’s story is for uninformed voters. The question is, do the uninformed represent a majority yet? Read more here: http://www.realitybatslast.com/2012/09/23/demagogues-debt-and-atlas-shrugging/

It’s difficult to say definitively which tax is the most destructive. The corporate income tax is a leading candidate for causing higher prices to consumers, lower wages to workers and lower returns to investors. It misallocates capital, resulting in higher levels of unemployment and lower levels of economic growth and opportunity, and it taxes income that has already been taxed as least once before. The 2012 annual rankings of “Corporate Tax Competitiveness” was published in Canada by University of Calgary and in the United States by Cato Institute. In the study, authors Duanjie Chen and Jack Mintz of the school...

A whopping tax increase is scheduled for 2013 on the working poor. Those making $36,200 will see their Federal taxes increase from 10 percent to 15. That's a whooping 50 percent tax increase on the working poor. Under Obama, the US Senate adjourned, leaving this increased tax on the working poor. Nevermind, they failed to make their required budget (X times in a row), but they left an immoral tax increase on the working poor. Beyond that, the Democratic Senate left in place a 2% Social Security tax increase upon them as well. Obama promised their would not be a...

Think because your a middle class worker your Federal taxes won't increase next year - think again. That 70% increase on taxes for the working poor hits you, just not as hard. Yes, you still stay at 15% but the poor tax hits you for $870 or about $72 dollars a month. Not only this, but the Social Security tax reduction expires this year as well. So you will get socked with an additional 2% as well. That's a minimum of $348 or $29 more dollars a month. That's $101 dollars a month less for you or your family. Put...

Before I get into all the gobbledy-gook of this post, I need to first say that I don't think Romney (or Obama) should have to release even ONE year of tax returns. It's not a requirement to hold the nation's highest elected office and, therefore, shouldn't even be a debate. With that said... Libs are finding themselves in a precarious situation - how to attack Romney for being part of "the 1%"d while donating to programs that help "the 99%." On Friday, Romney released his taxes from last year just as he had promised. The Obama campaign - and...

Today has been incredibly disturbing for anyone who understands on a basic level how taxes work. The NY Post, Marketwatch, The NY Times, and even the Wall-Street Journal have posted news stories about how Romney the evil robber baron has only paid “14%” in taxes. This is leading to outrage in the middle class, as people realize that’s a “lower number” than what they pay. It’s also misleading. Romney’s overall tax rate is over 50%. The lower-sounding number is being used because it makes a great story — even if it only tells part of it. It’s surreal. Fine. If...

PARIS (Reuters)- Germany's Roman Catholic bishops have decreed that people who opt out of a "church tax" should not be given sacraments and religious burials, getting tougher on worshippers who choose not to pay. Alarmed by a wave of dissenting Catholics quitting the faith, the bishops issued a decree on Thursday declaring such defection "a serious lapse" and listed a wide range of church activities from which they must be excluded.

Prop 30: Your Wallet or Your Kids. NO Either approve $36 billion in higher sales and income taxes or else Gov. Brown threatens to shoot the schools. Don't worry, the income taxes are only on the "very wealthy," but it turns out the "very wealthy" include many small businesses filing under sub-chapter S, meaning lower wages, higher prices and fewer jobs. California already has one of the highest overall tax burdens in the country and yet has just approved a budget to spend $8 billion dollars more than it's taking in. Moral of the story: it's the spending stupid. Prop...

National Association for Business Economics recently surveyed say the country needs more fiscal stimulus through 2013, but by 2014 it should be time to throttle back. The reason for the delay: the sluggish nature of the country's economic recovery. A majority of the economists favor extending payroll tax cuts, current marginal income tax rates and current tax rates for dividends and capital gains for most or all taxpayers through 2013. Deep tax cuts that were passed under President George W. Bush expire at the end of December unless Congress takes action. At the center of debate: extending the cuts for...

...Hillary Rodham Clinton says she wants foreign countries to make elite citizens pay their fair share of taxes. ...Clinton on Monday addressed participants in her husband's Clinton Global Initiative. *** Clinton says the U.S. will help struggling nations become self-sufficient rather than offering traditional aid.... ...says she's now out of politics....

There has been numerous headwinds to a housing (and commercial real estate) recovery. One is doggedly slow economic growth. Another is doggedly high unemployment rates. But there is another headwind that is not talked about for housing and real estate in general: taxmageddon or the upcoming single largest tax increase in American history. Simply put, housing consumption will be reduced in Federal taxes increase. But this is occurring just as housing is beginning to stabilize in many parts of the country. Americans for Tax Reform provide a nice summary of the tax tsunami that is about to hit (unless Congress...

Almost every state in the U.S. has made cuts to its public-employee pensions, seeking to dig out from the economic downturn, but so far the measures have fallen well short of bridging a nearly $1 trillion funding gap. Since 2009, 45 states have rolled back pension benefits for teachers, police, firefighters and other public workers, including cuts by Michigan and California this month. Next week, Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich is expected to sign legislation requiring, for example, that certain teachers work longer and pay more toward their pensions.

Senior Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod slammed Mitt Romney over the GOP challenger’s recently released 2011 tax return. Axelrod charged Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that the return was manipulated to give a false impression of the Romney family’s finances and “boost” the amount Romney paid to the federal government. “Two months ago, on your own air, he said that anybody who didn’t take the deductions they were owed wasn’t qualified to be president,” Axelrod told host George Stephanopoulos. “Well, I guess he’s not qualified, because that’s exactly what he did last week to try and get his number up...

The release of over two decades of Mitt Romney's tax information on Friday must have been so anticlimactic for Team Obama --- not only does it turn out that Romney contributed a boatload of money towards the federal coffers, but he's also an almost wildly generous and charitable individual to boot. After the monumentally huge deal Team O made out of the tax returns, with dodgy "secrecy" ads and unsubtle fat-cat jabs out the wazoo, they don't seem to be seizing on the information with quite the fervor you would've expected.Yes, Romney is hugely wealthy, and hey, maybe some of...

Every working American needs to prepare for a tax increase this January. From the working poor who will receive an increase of 70% to only 13 percent for the highest bracket, the Democratic United State Senate has left in place a tax increase for all of us. They left in a hurry leaving the tax increases in place Before the Election. They left without doing their duty to pass a budget, and they left the Social Security Tax increase of 2%, adding insult to injury. One can only surmise they left these as the only tax increase they could get...